The 2014 crop AR cash soybean market began its first full week of post-Thanksgiving trading with a 25 cent weekend loss, opening on Monday with a statewide average of $10.32. Price fell further on Tuesday before stabilizing on Wednesday into a full recovery that eventually regained all of the midweek losses and part of the weekend tumble. The market closed on Friday at $10.46, an 11 cent decline from the prior week closing mark (Figure 1). High individual daily market quote of the week was $10.86 at West Memphis on Friday with Old Town/Elaine at $10.81. All other reporting markets finished the week at or below $10.46. Low daily quote for the week occurred on Tuesday with $9.81 at Wynne. All individual reporting markets finished the week above $10.00 and below $11.00. Two markets, Blytheville and Osceola, failed to provide daily quotes after Monday of the past week. The Friday closing prices ranged from a low of $10.21 at Wynne to the high of $10.86 at West Memphis. These end-of-week quotes left the market price range at 65 cents, the second straight week with a 5 cent expansion from the previous week ending range.

Fig. 1. AR 2014 Crop Soybean Cash Market Prices (Dec. 1-5, 2014)

The 2015 soybean crop market closely tracked the 2014 crop cash movement. Price fell 24 cents over the weekend to a Monday statewide average of $9.81. Additional losses occurred on Tuesday before the market stabilized and began to post daily gains. The Friday closing average was $9.98, only a 7 cent decline from the previous end of week quote. High individual market quote for the week was $10.14 reported at Old Town/Elaine on Friday. The low for this week was $9.46 at both Augusta and Des Arc on Tuesday. Thirteen markets continue to provide new crop quotes. End-of-the-week quotes saw market prices ranging from a low of $9.84 at Augusta to the high of $10.14 at Old Town/Elaine. These quotes represented a range of 30 cents, a second week of 5 cent narrowing from the previous week closing quotes.

Fig. 2. AR 2015 New Crop Soybean Market Prices (Dec. 1-5, 2014)

(Market average prices stated in this report are unweighted averages of the state markets surveyed by NASS. Price data was based on USDA LR GR111 Arkansas Daily Grain Reports.)